


Diving Dove

by HogwartsToAlexandria



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: AU - No ZA, Dresses, Established Relationship, Jewels, Loving Oneself, Loving one another, M/M, Married Rickyl, cross-dressing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-07 07:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16850119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HogwartsToAlexandria/pseuds/HogwartsToAlexandria
Summary: "It's blue and it's soft and it seems like it glows over Daryl's skin and even though he knows he is well and truly alone in the house, Daryl finds himself trembling with that delicious anticipation of what if."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This bunny attacked me, today, and I let it and here we are, I hope you like it!
> 
> Unbeta'd

It's blue and it's soft and it seems like it glows over Daryl's skin and even though he knows he is well and truly alone in the house, Daryl finds himself trembling with that delicious anticipation of what if.

What if Rick found his way home earlier than usual today, what if he was released from work sooner than either of them expected and walked in. What if he entered the room and found Daryl swirling like he's been doing for over an hour, swirling in a satin blue dress, the circle skirt of the garment flying around his thighs and hips as he goes. 

He stares at himself in the mirror, his hands stuck in a never-ending caress on the fabric that fits so snugly across the planes and dips of his chest and shoulders.

His legs are smoothly shaved - a fantasy or rather an intimate tendency to prefer smooth over rough, gentle over tough, soft over harsh. He gives in to it every now and then and right now, the joy of subduing the manly manliness of his long muscly legs make him forget how incongruous one may judge him. 

Butterflies are flying up his chest in the wake of his hand, tangling in the folds of satin across his waist. A small smile graces his lips and further gentles his features, soothing the wrinkles of life up his brow, making room for the blue light of his eyes to shine and reflect back to him in the full-length mirror he's facing.

Delicacy, the gentleness of the soul reverberating in the way Daryl's limbs seem to stall whenever he's able to dress in this way, whenever he's able to blend his features in makeup and to tame his hair with products he otherwise keeps stashed in the bathroom cabinets. 

It's a thrill and a delight, to be given the opportunity to live a life where this is possible, where Daryl can afford to shed the skin of the redneck, to abandon the angular edges of his birth and fully embrace the petal-soft nature of his person, one he carefully hides to all else, the wind, and the people around him. Even Rick. 

And sometimes he thinks maybe his husband knows. Maybe Rick Grimes - the most tender man Daryl's ever met in his life, the most cheerful dork and still the strongest pillar of Daryl's existence - knows it all and doesn't judge. Because sometimes, Rick's eyes have a gleam to them as he gives him something that feels like a knowing side-glance. Because sometimes Rick's face lights up with the curve of his lips as they tend to form a half-quirk of a smile, a question without words.

 

And maybe, someday, Daryl can tell him. 

And maybe, someday, Daryl can show him.

 

For now, Daryl swirls one last time before he changes into another dress, black this time, velvet this time, and his eyes water. He knows he'll have to tell Rick eventually. Because this feels too good to let go of and more than that, it feels too good to let it happen so seldom.

The thickness of the velvet as it hugs Daryl's body feels like a second skin. Its wrapover design top sticks to his chest in the most delicious embrace. The skirt pieces are tight down the expanse of his thighs and down again to below his knees, the curve of it all leaving his heart in a warm flutter. 

Thank God for online orders. Thank God for Rick being a patron of privacy and leaving him to take care of his own private mail and deliveries. 

Daryl sits on his bed still in the dress, absentmindedly stroking his thighs through the cloth, gently biting his lipsticked bottom lip and he is suddenly overwhelmed with both relief and panic. A double-natured stroke assaulting his heart as he is as he most often want to be: in the clothes that let him feel himself and he's still empty. He's all alone in his enjoyment of his fine appearance and as happy as he is to even be able to do this, it is still a lonely moment. 

He stays this way for a long time, so long in fact, so lost in his own head in fact, that he didn't realize Rick was home and had been so for more than an hour when he opened the door to get out of their bedroom, still wearing his new favorite dress. He didn't realize it until his feet bumped on something in the doorway as he went to leave the room.

A curse muttered between gritted teeth later, Daryl looked down to discover a bag, toppled over but still easily identifiable -  _ Tiffany & Co.  _ \- Daryl gasped.

He looked from side to side but Rick was nowhere to be seen and if he'd paid more attention, he might have heard the sound of the TV coming from downstairs, but he hadn't, blood was throbbing at his temple and his mind was reeling.

He picked the bag up from the floor and quickly closed the door of the bedroom behind him. 

He sat back on the edge of the bed and very carefully fished out the turquoise, ribboned box from its bag. He undid the precious bow that closed the box and gasped again, audibly. The lid taken off, the box had revealed another, jewelry, velvet box. A large square of it at that, and when Daryl lifted the lid of that one as well, his fingers shaking with uncertainty and exhilarating anticipation, he had to remind himself out loud, to be calm enough not to damage the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his life.

A rose gold necklace with an olive branch for a pendant, small diamonds for olives. All of it resting on a satin scarf artistically folded to showcase the colors of the jeweler House while nestling the delicate gold set.

A single tear escaped from Daryl's eyes as he ghosted his fingers over the expanse of the necklace chain, relief rushing through his every pore to his nervous heart, questions steadily filling his mind at the same time as gratefulness made his body pliant and warm.

It took awhile but eventually, Daryl put the jewel on. He marveled at the feel of the cold, glinting metal on his seemingly overheated skin, his fingers continuously going back to brush feather-soft over the expanse of the chain and pendant.

His smile was a shaky little thing that felt like acceptance but he couldn't let it wash over him, not yet. Rick first. Rick's eyes on him would tell Daryl everything he needed to know before he could envisage acceptance as part of his life, full acceptance. And so he got up on equally shaky legs, his knees colliding repeatedly as he took the few steps to the door, the few steps in the hallway to the stairs and then down, down the stairs until he reached the living-room and took a deep breath in, waiting for Rick to turn his attention away from the TV to notice he was there.

His lungs stuttered when Rick did look up. His heart beat so fast in his chest it hurt when Rick did straighten up on the couch, when he visibly took in the appearance of his husband, Daryl standing still as a statue under his gaze. And then Rick smiled, gentle as always. 

 

“I knew the second I saw this necklace that it would look perfect on you, Dove.” 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just felt like writing what comes right after, some sort of conversation, a hint of what changes from then on...
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Unbeta'd

_ “I knew the second I saw this necklace that it would look perfect on you, Dove.”  _

  
  


Daryl didn't know if he should cry or laugh so he did a mix of both, laughs that were wet and tears that were joyful and made his eyes glint in the fading light of the day. 

Rick rose from the couch and their eyes seemed locked, an invisible ribbon of love linking their gazes. How the man managed to make a giant grin look tentative was a wonder but Daryl wasn't going to ask. What he saw in that shyly drawn smile was pure love and pure respect and the flow of Rick's gentle adoration cut his breath supplies to practically nothing. Daryl was lost to the waves of passion that irradiated from Rick's eyes on him.

When his husband was finally standing in front of him, their eyes still frozen in their serene tangle of currents, both Rick's hands went to travel the expanse of the velvet dress Daryl still had on. He brushed his sides feather-soft and his smile took on yet another layer of appreciation, he liked the feel of it, then. 

“You're so beautiful.” Rick whispered and once again, Daryl felt it like a punch. A jab at all the questioning and self-doubting he'd ever felt over the years. They wouldn't go away in the span of one night but hearing these words, feeling the raw honesty of Rick's acceptance, plain and almost rough in its completeness, that would certainly help keep them at bay.

“How...Ho--” Daryl groaned in frustration before he started again, “How long have ya known?” Daryl's voice was scratchy and contained, the tone of it filled with the emotions his heart threatened to burst with. 

Rick didn't answer right away, he smiled still and put a hand on Daryl's jaw, the other going to thread in his hair, enjoying the slick feel of it as he brushed loose strands away from his man's forehead. Daryl almost closed his eyes then. Rick's touch on him was a breath of fresh air down his lungs, a splash of warm water down his neck, a sparkle of light up his spine. 

“I've known for a long while, couldn't be sure but then there was the conditioner in the bathroom and one of your dresses fell down the closet the other day, that’s when I knew and it's okay.” Rick talked and kissed Daryl's lips in a ghost of lips and then talked some more and finally brushed their cheeks together, kissed up his jaw and murmured in his ear, “I just...I love you and _you_ can be whoever you are, whoever you want.”

Rick trailed back to Daryl's mouth, a sweet cloud of kisses from the birth of his cheekbone to the crook of his upper lip. Their lips united in such a fusion that Daryl, probably for the first time in his life, felt whole. The missing pieces of the puzzle had come together, both Rick's honest vision of him, and his easy, full acceptance that made it so much easier for himself to fully accept who he was.

“Thank you,” Daryl sobbed out against his husband's lips, his face leaning to the side, his lips smearing the small amount of gloss he still wore on Rick's cheeks and it seemed Rick wasn't exactly pleased by that. In fact, he growled against his ear. “Don't thank me for loving you. You're my  _ husband _ .” 

And then, Daryl yelped. One second he was standing in a half hug facing Rick, the next he was being carried bridal-style, his body horizontal to the floor as his hands reflexively clasped around Rick's neck. “What the..” and Rick kissed him again, “I've been wanting to do that for a long time, I was right, it's nice.” 

Daryl chuckled at the words, a carefree, happy series of laughs that coated Rick's tongue with arousal. There was nothing prettier than Daryl happy. Nothing at all. 

  
  


The next few days were a buzz of lightened smiles and sparkling looks. Their level of intimacy never so high, never so warm. 

A few times Daryl caught Rick's eyes on him and his heart felt so full: Rick looked the happiest he'd ever seen him and it matched his own feelings so perfectly it was hard for Daryl to believe his own luck. 

A few times Rick caught Daryl's hands as they trembled with excitement and need and he had to remind his husband that it was okay, that if he wanted a dress today, that if he wanted makeup today he could have it freely, and tomorrow as well, and always. 

The next few weeks felt like rediscovering each other, a whole new side of Daryl and Rick, a whole new facet of them was explored and would keep being uncovered. And if Daryl's love of feminine outfits extended to the delicate fabrics of silked and laced underwear, neither of them complained when the time came to explore that as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like I'm on a roll now that the semester is ending so you can expect a few more things to pop up soon :)

**Author's Note:**

> How did this go? :)
> 
> (Notebook chapter coming up a little later.)
> 
> Also find me on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hogwartstoalexandria)


End file.
